This week’s post comes a few days late – because last week was mostly about all sorts of events, meetings, concerts, walks in the park – you know, spring-related outdoorsy things, which made me watch only a couple of movies. The last few days however meant a bunch of good titles watched by yours truly – here they are.

The Fourth Kind (dir: Olatunde Osunsamni)
Milla Jovovich is the kind of actress that, by her presence alone, can turn crappy movies into something enjoyable – at least to me, anyways. If anyone else would’ve played the lead in The Fourth Kind, I would’ve probably hated it. With her in it – well, let’s just say I didn’t. To give credit where it’s due – in the avalanche of horror remakes, at least this one tries to be original, by claiming to have “real people” tell their stories about alien abductions in Alaska. If this was indeed true – it could’ve been great. The problem is, even the “real people”, that are presented in parallel with the actor “reenactments”, are fake, and every single frame is acted. Knowing this, the film loses its edge, and the whole “parallel” thing ends up working against it. However – it’s got some good moments, and it’s got Milla.5/10

Antichrist (dir: Lars Von Trier)
Have seen this one before, have seen bits and pieces before, but this was the first time I actually watched all of Von Trier’s madness in crystal clear Blu-Ray. And I loved every second of it – including the bonus features: how about the fucking Phantom camera that shoots with 1000 fps? That’s insane. No wonder the slow-mo scenes look so brilliant. Actual movie review cooking & coming up later.10/10

Did You Hear About the Morgans? (dir: Marc Lawrence)
I rue the day I decided to give this piece of crap a chance. Yes, it is as horrible as everyone says it is. Fucking horrendous story, boring characters that lack any kind of chemistry, and an absolutely pathetic Sarah Jessica Parker – whose acting literally made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Hugh Grant got a few smiles out of me, that’s why I didn’t give this one a 1 out of 10, however it gets a big fat2/10

Brothers (dir: Jim Sheridan)
Shot-by-shot remakes of foreign films piss me off. This one does too – it’s completely useless, especially considering the original – Danish flick Brodre by Susanne Bier – was such a great film. However, if I were to ignore all of this, and think about Sheridan’s version as a standalone film, it’s actually really great. This is a well-written character drama about three people and the way war (any war) reflects on all of them, and influences their relationships.
If I were to give you one reason to watch this film, it’s this: Tobey Maguire. Ex-Spiderman is fucking fantastic, especially in the final half hour. He steals the film, transforming himself completely from the character he played in the first act – the guy actually ends up playing two different roles. Some scenes, after his return home, are pitch-perfect, from the way they’re shot, to the dialogue, to Tobey’s acting (Fuck it, the fact alone that my beloved Natalie Portman is in this and all I keep babbling about is Tobey, should be enough to make you realize how awesome his acting is).7/10

She’s Out of My League (dir: Jim Field Smith)
A decent, predictable, sometimes funny comedy, that has drawn often comparisons to Apatow’s flicks – mostly because it’s a crude romantic comedy. However, comparisons stop there. This one lacks that extra layer of witty dialogue, and character insanity, that Apatow got us used with. This one is more straightforward, and never goes over the top – which might actually be a good thing. Anyway – a decent, funny watch.6/10

Zombieland (dir: Reuben Fleischer)
A zom-com that isn’t as funny as Shaun of the Dead (although it still is pretty fucking hilarious most of the time), but makes up in memorable characters and brilliant looks. From Woody’s Twinkie hunt, to Jesse’s set of rules, to Emma being hot as shit, to Abigail kicking ass, to Zombie Kill of the Week, to BM reenacting Ghostbusters and regretting Garfield, this is as fresh and entertaining as zombie comedies are ever going to be. Have seen it last year at Sitges, in a packed theater (and by packed I mean 1.500 zombie fans), and an amazing atmosphere, with the cast in attendance. This was the first time I saw this at home, on Blu-Ray, and it didn’t lose any of its charm and awesomeness.9/10